Final Shoot

I think i could have improved my final shoot if I had put more attention into the little details that i had originally planned to, such as belts and a helmet instead of the top hat, and goggles instead of the mask to give it more of the steampunk feel. 

I was very happy with the photographer I had chosen because he had a very small amount of time to work with yet still managed to produce a very lovely photoshoot, and i will definitely want to work with him in the future.

The Mace

I started making the mace by first measuring out a pattern in the shape of a clockwork gear, making sure it is the relevant size for the weapon, I then cut the pattern out 8 times out of cardboard

I then cut out smaller pieces to put in between two of the gear cut out to make a 3D effect, and then stuck them onto a wooden pole.

And then gave it 2 coats of black paint and rubbed the bronze paint on again to give it the same effect to match.

Tophat number two.

Following the way i had made my first top hat, i decided to make a miniature version that women wear at the side of their head rather than just on top. I followed the same method in which i made the first top hat, but i got rid of the rivets, as they were the longest part in process, and i decided to add some of the resin pendants that i made along with feathers coming off the side of the hat.

Design practicality.

After making the garments I decided to try them on and see if they were well suited for the ability the character has; they were very easy to move around in, while retaining the natural appeal of the heroine. The only part i would modify again is how well the leggings fit the person, because the pattern I was following i believe was suited for a person with shorter legs than I. This is something i should have changed during the pattern cutting stage, because they kept slipping down my legs while i was moving in them.

Corset and Leggings

My favourite part about creating a garment is sewing it all together, because somehow i always manage to learn new techniques; in this case while i was making the corset, I learnt how to put eyelets into fabric, which is something i had never done before and it came out really nicely.

The only thing I'd like to change in hindsight would have been while i was putting the eyelets in; I didn't measure the spaces between each eyelet properly and a few came out slight disproportionate but otherwise i was very happy with my final two garments.

Corset by Me.

Material Selection.

I went shopping around London looking for a good fabric, with a colour best suited for my final design; i wanted as close to the shade of brown that i drew in my final illustration, but it was very difficult to find a leather look material that was in that colour as most of them came in blacks, whites and reds.
In the end, I did find what I required and it helped that the fabric had a one way stretch.

I wanted to make props for the final shoot as well because i thought that if it was just the outfit it would make the final shoot look quite plain; I settled with making a top hat, because i already had the knowledge on how to make one, a mace, because the character herself wields a mace, and a mask.
To make the top hat, i bought more foam sheets, for the mace I decided to use cardboard from old moving boxes as it was the best suited thickness for the prop, and i bought the mask because i knew it would take less time than me learning the steps and trying to make one from scratch.

Pattern cutting

I went back to the tutorials on how to make a corset and started making the patterns based on my body shape accordingly. Pattern cutting is my least favourite part of the process when making a garment, but it is a necessary skill i need to know.

The trouser pattern was much easier to make because I didn't make too many variation towards the original plain pattern.

Final Design.

I settled on my final piece design to be a steampunk variation of Hawkgirl. Admittedly she wasn't the superhero I would have chosen at the beginning of this project, but I'm still happy with the finished product; I changed her green and yellow colours to a rusty yellow and brown to give it more of the steampunk aesthetic.

Designing

I started designing based on what I learnt from tracing the characters and their clothing. I broke it down into sections and incorporated different outfits the character had depending on whether it came from a movie, video game, comic or cartoon. and then adding elements of steampunk that I learnt from my research.

I like the way some of my designs had turned out and I started focusing on redesigning the characters we know already as if they were being remade into a new movie, one based in the steampunk universe and decided then that my final piece will be a popular character re-made into steampunk.

I realised while in the process of designing that I had run out of time to fully design and develop; this was due to me focusing too much on the research part of my project. but I am still happy with the outcome of the designs I did create.

Steampunk Catwoman by Me.

Development work

Once I had collected and compiled all my research, I started tracing popular superheroes and villains to get and idea of the shapes in their clothing, for referencing when I start making the patterns for my final piece.
This was really useful for me because the way that I personally design is very realistic, and I focus more on my designs being a guideline to the garment's construction, rather than the aesthetics of it for a show. Tracing their outfits helped me better understand how the garments were made, and within this process i had to deconstruct everything from the beginning to the end.

Test Tophat

I followed one of the tutorial videos that 'Lost Wax' has on his page, to make a steampunk top hat, I made it to see how easy and time consuming it is incase I wanted to use this knowledge towards my final piece.

I started by making the main body of the hat out of yoga matt foam and then covering it with smaller squares of foam to make it look like plates going around the top hat.

I then hole punched the thinner sheets of foam to make the rivets that will go around each plate.

Painting it in 3 layers of black paint for the undercoat colour.

And then finally using bronze metallic paint, I used my finger to smudge the paint around each rivet and plate to give the rust metal effect.

In conclusion, even though the hat alone took more than a day to make, I still love the outcome of it and will be using this as a part of my final piece.

MCM Expo

I went to MCM Expo, which is the UK's biggest comic convention; it is a traditional for the people going there to dress up as their personal favourite characters, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to see how people create their costumes and bring their own twist to each creation.

I found this very useful because it has been very popular to make steampunk variations of peoples favourite characters, regardless of where they originate.
my favourite costumes from the Expo were a trio that went as steampunk versions of three batman villains The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. I was able to talk to them about how each one made their cosplays, and this really helped me get an idea of how to start remoulding each character to better fit into the steampunk world.

MCM Expo Group, Facebook

Trail and error Earrings

I found a place in London that sells clockwork gears for a very cheap price, so I decided to do a bit of trial and error experimenting and see where it led. This resulted in me making a pair of steampunk styled earrings; I found this quite challenging because the gears were exceptionally small and were very difficult to hold while trying to glue them into the correct place.
I decided that if I am going to work with clockwork gears in the future that I am going to get the correct tools to hold them in place, and find a more effective glue that doesn't take too long to dry so I can create my work faster.

Workshop

During my time on the FMP module, I managed to get a job in a workshop that specialised in making props and costumes for stages and film sets. This has helped me so much with my work for my FMP because I had learnt how to make many new things.

The first thing they had taught me was how to make mold for resining. It was my first time doing both of these techniques but the outcomes came out better than expected, and I was told that I was already a pro at making things out of resin. I plan to use this new skill towards my final piece too because you can make very lovely things very quickly.

My boss Gareth showing me how to mix and pour resin into the moulds.

The outcome of the things I made out of resin.

Alongside the resin stuff, I learned how to make many other things along with techniques such as plaster mould, fibreglassing, and carpentry, all at a beginner level.

Here is a few other things I helped make in the workshop.

The 10th Doctor, Tardis

A steam punk styled street lamp

And we are currently building out own version of the Narnia wardrobe.

Guide to make things steampunk.

I started researching into how to give normal things a steampunk style, because I favour the ageing rusty iron and gears look over the polished style. Plus I think that learning how to create these things will help enable me to incorporate it in the future with my superhero's side of the project.

Initially, the best I could find was a few online tutorials on how to make corsets and skirts in the victorian style, but then I found a channel called "Lost Wax' on youtube [https://www.youtube.com/user/LostWaxOz] which taught you how to make steampunk styled props out of foam, but making it look like rusty old metal.
I found this very useful to reference to, and will use his tutorials in the future when making things but changing it to work with a superhero costume.

Steampunk - novels and videogames

I read a few short fictions for research, the most helpful coming from H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine", along with Jules Verne's "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth".
H.G Wells' book The Time Machine (which was later on made into a movie) was set in the Victorian era (circa 1890) allowed the reader a greater understanding of people in the steampunk world; steampunk as a genre is coined by the "anachronistic victorian" setting, and in the book's setting, H.G. Wells had similar thoughts when it mentioned designs. The time machine itself was hand-made with basic mechanical principles to further its construction; despite this only being a simple bicycle design, the common ground in the mechanics of it are very similar with steampunk.

Along with the books and movies, I also discovered a few video games that were set featuring steampunk themes; these included  Bioshock infinite, Dishonoured, and Fable were very useful to look at when it came to analysing clothing and architecture.
In a similar stance to the "Batman Arkham..."series, looking at the games from a first person perspective in the game really helps you immerse yourself in that universe and understand how it everything ticks.

Steampunk - Exhibition

looking around for exhibitions based on steampunk, considering its niche level demographic, proved to be tricky. i did strike gold finding the "Longitude Punk'd" exhibit in Greenwich.
While it wasn't entirely correlative with the interests in my project, i found the exhibits to be quite interesting, especially considering how many of the objects involved in the pieces had no immediate link to what i know as "steampunk".
I was also impressed with the mechanical aspects of some of the pieces, particularly how the individual gears and cogs interlinked to form a finished piece and this is a feature that i want to carry over into my own project.

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Steampunk Community

While researching the topic, I discovered that in the UK especially there is a very big steampunk community. I know this due to there being a very useful Facebook group called Steampunk Tendencies [https://www.facebook.com/groups/steampunktendencies/], where the community posts about various artists and designers, and in general things that relate to steampunk.
Through this I have discovered many new things to research for the steampunk part of my project.

Anything can have a steampunk version. I have noticed that there are a few recurring materials that often come in steampunk creations; this includes leathers, irons and rusts.
Often steampunk is portrayed in either a post victorian style, or a western style, but overall anything can be made steampunk.
I really enjoy the rusty iron look because in the steampunk universe everything is powered by steam instead of electricity and I am planning to use this somewhere within the project.

Superheros - Video game research

Due to the massive popularity of certain characters such as batman, spiderman, and deadpool, their own franchises were established which included very popular video games.

I found the video games to be a very good form of research; they place you in the position of the hero and let you play out the experiences and events of the characters first hand, and i felt this  helped me considerably in putting myself in the best position designing the costumes for the superheroes.
In video games there is a huge variety when it comes to the clothing; with the constant focus being on the main character, the attention to detail in their outfits needs to be at such a high standard, considering modern game quality, and this give the players an opportunity to set their attention on the smaller aspects of the character's appearance.

Within the Batman "Arkham..." series, I found a few characters particularly interesting to analyse. This included "The Joker", "Harley Quinn", and "Catwoman", not just because they are all completely normal people with incredible skills, but also because the attention to detail the concept artists put into their designs was incredible.
One example of this was how they designed Catwoman to have metal claws, in order to help her climb up buildings with ease.
Another point of this was the costumes reflecting the main themes presented in the batman games; there is a very dark ambience/atmosphere throughout the game, and the final costume designs for the villains and heroes accentuate this brilliantly.

[http://arkhamcity.wikia.com/wiki/File:Arkhamcity-armored_catwoman.jpg]

Superhero - Movie Research

Both Marvel and DC comics have used their popularity to make their comics come to life through movies and cartoons. The cartoons took a more childish and comical approach towards the superheroes, while the movies were aimed towards a teen+ demographic.

I have watched a lot of the superhero movies made to this day, and re-watched a few such as the avengers films, including the sub-stories of the avengers, the most recent batman trilogy set, and the superman movies both old and new. I also started watching the justice league cartoon show because it showcases more of the less popular superheroes and their abilities.

My favourite part of watching these movies for research was looking at the outfits, analysing how they looked a real-world design, and imagining how simple or complex it could be to make a copy.

Superhero - Comic Research.

Marvel and DC comics are two rivalling lead companies in the comic book world, both famous for their incredible beings that people of a young age look up to.

I have had an interest in comics books from a very young age. It just always seemed amazing how you can put yourself into a new universe with all these strange and amazing beings saving the day.

Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman, and one of the first superhero's created by Marvel Comics, although he was basically American propaganda against Nazi Germany, he still was someone that the public looked up to even if he was a fictional character, and especially at times when the world is at its worst, people just need hope.

The most famous writer of Marvel is Stan "The Man" Lee, for his great contribution to creating the most interesting characters from the marvel universe, he helped create some of the worlds favourite superheroes such as ; Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, The X-Men and the Hulk, He frequently cameos in the Marvel movies. And soon I will have the privilege of meeting him in person.

[http://wall.alphacoders.com/by_sub_category.php?id=163676]

DC comics is the largest comic book company in the American Market. It was founded in 1934 by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. DC has introduced us to many superhero's we know today, such as Batman, Superman,Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, Hawkman, and Green Arrow, along with such superhero teams as the Justice League, the Watchmen, and the Teen Titans, as well as antagonists such as the Joker, Lex Luthor and Catwoman.

In the end I found comics and graphic novels from both companies to use in my initial research so I can reference which superheroes I am showing in my development book. 
I am using comic books and graphic novels for my main forms of research because I love how deep the stories go with regards to character development, the story arcs with each person included, and the artwork in the comic. With this in mind, I feel i'll be able to create a costume with a better representation of the character it's modelled from because I'll have a much greater understanding of their character. 
I draw a lot of inspiration from the artwork and designs in the comics, and for this reason I tried to emulate the styles I came across in my research.